"What the public found most alarming, even more than Kajii's lack of beauty, was the fact that she was not thin. Women appeared to find this aspect of the case profoundly disturbing, while in men it elicited an extraordinary display of hatred and vitriol."

Butter is an esoteric, absorbing story that sinks its teeth into our collective hidden curiosities about death and darkness and exposes them for all to see through the words of a killer. Our narrator also takes devilish pleasure in exposing the deep misogyny that still holds roots in society and how dangerous female rage can become when it’s pushed to breaking point. It becomes even more peculiar when we find this is inspired by a true case of crime in Japan.

The narration was slow, deliberate, although at times it felt the story didn’t need to be as long as it eas - we walked through daily life with Rika as she worked and met her friends, and the odd relationship she develops with Manako as she await trial in prison with thoughtful and leisurely storytelling and quietly letting the strange, obsessive intrigue sneak into the storytelling and a suffocating atmosphere as Rika’s thoughts and desires are consumed by desires and questions.

With the most intricate, indulgent, almost sexual depictions of food that really gets into the pleasures it brings and significance it can provide especially in some cultures, as well as the complicated relationship internal sexism and standards can warp our relationships with food. At times it was a little gratuitous, almost uncomfortable with the length and detail in these sections. And the somewhat oppressive body standards voiced by some of the characters were definitely made to sting - and reflect the standards forced upon women constantly by showing the sheer rage and hatred society has towards women they deem fat or ugly. Now there were some jarring sections about imposing old gender roles, but I liked the way they were approached treating femininity as a different power, not a lesser one.

A subversive and striking tale about desire and obsession, weird but such a wonderful way.

This one left me cold, like left-overs. It was far too long and the food descriptions, which were on every page, did not interest me at all. I have never tried Japanese food and am not particularly interested in doing so (I do love butter and roast turkey, though!) I appreciate the themes and issues it dealt with, but for me it was "lost in translation".

“...you don’t have to get through everything alone. You don’t have to always be growing as a person either. The far more important thing is just to get through the day.”

This book made me so hungry because of all the descriptions of delicious food. I’m inspired to try out the recipes and meals mentioned once I can get my hands on some quality butter. But surprisingly, this is not a feel-good eat-pray-love kind of novel about food. The protagonist is a journalist working for a big media company, and she wants to get an interview with an alleged serial killer, a professional mistress to rich old men who was arrested after three of her suitors died.

Meeting the killer completely upends the journalist’s life as she has to unlearn her internalised misogyny and confront her feelings about her deceased father. She undergoes a physical and mental journey as she pursues the truth of what really happened between the killer and the men who died. This requires her to unearth the past, and she grows an attachment to the killer that puts her own reputation in danger.

There’s actually A LOT going on in this book. I resonated most with the discussions of disordered eating, fatphobia and thin culture, the importance of female friendships, and how unsustainable hetero relationships have become because of patriarchy. It would make a good addition to a Gender Studies module in university.

Butter follows journalist Rika who becomes fascinated by Manako Kajii, who is in prison for murdering three men who she apparently seduces with her cooking. After Rika writes to Manako and asks for the recipe for one of her dishes, Manako agrees to meet with her.

This is translated from Japanese and had lots of snippets of Japanese culture and details of the cuisine that I found really interesting but the book was a bit too slow for me.

I went in to it thinking it was a book about a woman who killed men, but really it was a book about food which happened to feature a woman who had killed men.

It didn’t quite resonate with me but I can see why people will enjoy it.

I found parts of this book incredibly gripping, and if it were shorter I think that would have carried through the entire plot. Unfortunately parts felt quite repetitive and I had to stop myself from skimming some pages. I loved to read the relationships between the food and the characters and the description of the cooking and ingredient was fantastic in how intense it made you feel

A slow start but builds nicely. Understanding a different culture and attitudes to marriage, weight and food. Forms of different friendship are central to the story.
Led by meeting and interviewing convicted murderer who killed the men in her life but wasn't there when they died.
An interesting story that will keep you intrigued to the end.

Really wanted to love this one but felt very disconnected from the stories and the characters. It was incredibly slow and I really wasn't interested by all the food descriptions.

This was a really interesting book and not something which I would normally read. The cultural descriptions were excellent (as were the descriptions of food) but I just felt it was overly-long.

Initially, this was a gripping book. The premise had me interested and the writing was gorgeous, especially the descriptions of food and cooking. However, as the book continued, I struggled to stay connected to the characters. It felt too long in my opinion, the book could have been 100 pages shorter and still had the same plot and ending. Speaking of, the ending wasn’t revolutionary or anything, but was a nice closing for the story. Overall, a well written and translated book, it just dragged a little towards the middle/end.

I was looking forward to reading this book, I've enjoyed visiting Japan in the past, experiencing a difficult culture, and really loved the food! There were some interesting themes in this book particularly around female friendship and, at the other extreme, misogyny. I also enjoyed the descriptions of cooking and food, less so the seeming obsession with butter (although I maybe should've expected it from the title). The story did seem to drag a lot in places and I would have preferred less detail. I also found the writing style/ translation quite stilted which didn't help me get into the book or an understanding of the characters.
Thank you to netgalley and 4th Estate for an advance copy of this book.

LOST IN TRANSLATION?

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii is in a Tokyo detention centre, accused and convicted of murdering three lovers and extorting money from a succession of men, seducing them with her delicious cuisine. The case causes a sensation throughout Japan, with people riveted and passing many a judgement on Manako. She refuses visitors and definitely prison interviews until journalist Rika Machida of Shumei weekly writes and asks for a recipe for beef stew (beef bourguignon as it turns out) and a meeting and a gastronomic exchange of letters begins. Clever Rika, you might think for finding a way to connect using Manako’s love of food where others have failed. I’ll let you decide. Incidentally, there’s a shortage of butter and Manako is very keen on the glory of butter and she convinces Rika.

Well, this is definitely a game of two halves as I like to call it. I really like that it’s inspired by the true story of the Konkatsu killer (Kanae Kijima) and it is worth having a little read about that case as the narrative follows the true crime case. I really enjoy reading a novel based somewhere different from my usual settings and some cultural references are fascinating. There are good themes in the novel, especially that of female friendship, which the book is steeped in. You have the “relationship” between Manako and Rika, who have very different views on women and also between Rika and her best friend Reiko who has a much more traditional view of women. There are multiple examples of misogyny which makes me wince and there are characters who develop different obsessions. One of the things that drives the interest in the case in Japan is female body image, Manako is not thin, she is described by many as fat which is viewed as not culturally acceptable. Is this true of Japan today?? She is not beautiful, so those following her case wonder how she attracts the men in the first place. Yes, that’s hard to take, but it’s part of the plot so I set personal thoughts aside!

The characters are not especially likeable especially Manako Kajii, but that will be no surprise, with some of the things that come out of her mouth being simply awful. The interactions between Manako and Rika or some of the best parts of the book as they are intriguing, if not riveting conversations with plenty of manipulation going on, but initially you’re not sure by whom. This takes the storytelling in unexpected directions as Rika tries to get to Manako Kajii’s truth, and there are twists and turns along that route.

This is described as a novel of food and murder. I’d say it’s a novel about food with murders chucked in. Now, I like food and some of it (no, much of it) is mouthwatering, but there’s way too much, even for my foodie taste. This becomes a negative but the biggest one is that, probably because of the food, the pace is leisurely, almost snail pace slow as it meanders from one meal to the next. It’s way, way too long and in places it’s hard to read as it goes off on tangents and becomes confusing. It needs stamina and snacks to keep going. I’d also say it’s not really a thriller either, although it has a psychological thriller element to it.

No, let’s deal with the butter. It goes on and on about butter. Yes, really. This part of the novel goes way over my head and whatever the significance of it is, it totally passes me by!

Overall, well, it’s different and I do like variety. Do I enjoy it? I can’t in all honesty, say I do as it’s just too much like hard work although I do find the murder case of Manako gripping. However, if you want to read something out of your comfort zone then this could be for you.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to 4th Estate for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

This is such an unusual book in which food figures greatly. But, I suppose the title gives that away. It’s well written but I don’t like the page after page without a break. As a reader I want the book to have natural breaks. It also gets bogged down in minute detail making reading progress slow. It’s an interesting look at Japanese culture as day to day activities are portrayed. The story didn’t draw me in though.

There is so much to love about this book! I feel nothing was lost in translation. A thoroughly engaging read!

I love this book!! Butter by Asako Yuzuki is a novel translated from Japanese to English which also contains references to Japanese culture. Personally I love learning about different cultures, and every time I found a new concept, I'd then spend quite a bit of time Googling about it etc. As a result, this novel was more than just a novel, it was a superb experience and I feel like I gained so much from it!!

I requested Butter by Asako Yuzuki as I had seen some good reviews of the book and thought the premise sounded like something I would enjoy plus the author recommendations on Netgalley swayed me.
Unfortunately this is not a book for me. I’ve got about a third of the way into the book and whilst I felt it started strongly (the descriptions of food are enough to make your mouth water!) I didn’t feel like the story was getting anywhere. I didn’t find the prose to be an enjoyable read, I don’t know if that is because it is a translation. I think if you like slow paced, translated novels you will probably enjoy it.